1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to methods of controlling electric appliances, and more particularly to a method of providing operating options of an electric appliance for users to select one therefrom.
2. Description of Related Art
The number of electric appliances in a modern home shows a rising trend in the recent decades. For convenience of usage, many electric appliances such as TVs, air conditioners, anti-theft systems, water heaters, and gas fireplaces, are respectively paired with a remote control. However, with the increase of the number and types of electric appliances, naturally, there would be more and more remote controls in one home, which may confuse users, and sometimes may even cause accidents if one electric appliance is operated unexpectedly.
In light of this, some manufacturers of electric appliances have provided one kind of relay apparatus, which allows a user to control electric appliances with a portable device (e.g., tablet computer, smartphone, or PDA). More specifically, a user can input control commands with a portable device which has established communication with such a relay apparatus through wireless network, and the inputted control commands are then transmitted to the relay apparatus to be converted into corresponding control signals. After that, the relay apparatus transmits the control signals to designated electric appliances to perform certain operations. In this way, a user is able to use only one portable device to control multiple electric appliances, which solves the problem of having too many remote controls.
However, the aforementioned architecture has a potential defect. A user can control electric appliances back home even when the user himself is absent, as long as the portable device held by the user can communicate with the relay apparatus through far-end network. In such case, the user may unintentionally turn on some home appliances to waste energy or even to cause unexpected danger.